What You Need to Know About Today’s Teenage Girls 

By Kendra Lee


Closing the Gap, Adolescence • November/December 2000


S

o what’s it like to be a teenage girl these days? It’s not much 

different than a half generation ago. “Boys, parents not under 

standing them, race issues, sex, drugs, alcohol, pregnancy, sexually transmitted diseases, boys—in that order,” said Stacie Wright, a 

sociologist in Roanoke, VA. There is, however, one notable exception: 

“They just start so much earlier,” Wright said. “Issues we dealt with as 

older teens, 17 and 18, they’re dealing with at 11, 12, and 13.” 

Recent studies bear this out. One survey, by the Kaiser Family 

Foundation and YM magazine for teens, found that teen girls as young 

as 13 struggle with complex sexual situations involving pressure, drinking and drug use, or with relationships that are moving too fast for 

them to handle . Teens in the study also reported worrying a lot about 

HIV/AIDS and other sexually transmitted diseases, as well as unwanted pregnancy. 

A large-scale study—The Girls Report: What We Need to Know 

About Growing Up Female—by the National Council for Research on 

Women (NCRW), found that although adolescent girls are doing 

better in school and having fewer babies than several years ago, they 

are smoking more, suffer depression twice as frequently as boys, and 

often are the victims of rape and other forms of violence. 

“Despite some progress, in many areas girls remain victimized, 

harassed, and diminished and face very real risks that threaten their 

healthy development,” wrote NCRW Executive Director Linda Basch 

in the report’s introduction. The report concluded that a growing 

number of programs directed at girls’ needs and an increased effort by 

girls themselves to overcome challenges notwithstanding, recent research reveals little or no progress on many indicators, and even a turn 

for the worse in some areas: 

 Smoking among teenage girls is on the rise. In 1991, one in eight 

girls in eighth grade reported smoking (13 percent); by 1996 the 

number had jumped to more than one in five (21 percent). 

 Girls ages 12–18 are now as likely as boys to drink alcohol and 

use illegal drugs. 

 Girls are twice as likely as boys to experience depression during 

adolescence, and are more likely to consider and attempt suicide. 

 A disproportionate percentage of reported rape victims are adolescent girls. In 1992, 62 percent of all reported forcible rape 

cases involved victims who were younger than 17. 

 Girls frequently are denied access to reproductive information, 

products and services. 

 Recent changes in welfare laws threaten the well-being of teen 

mothers and their children, children living in single-parent households, and children from immigrant families. 

 Participation in sports is linked with numerous 

health and social benefits. Yet despite Title IX and the 

increasing popularity of women’s collegiate and professional sports, 

the percentage of high school sophomore girls who participated 

on athletic teams continues to fall. 

 High school girls who say they have experienced sexual or physical abuse are more likely to smoke, drink and use illegal drugs. 

 Teen mothers under age 20 comprised 7 percent of all adult 

female recipients of Aid to Families with Dependent Children in 

1995. 

In addition, peer pressure—especially among the younger set of 

adolescents—is strong. “There’s a lot of pressure to do drugs. There’s 

pressure about that all the time,” said Meredith Howard, an 11 yearold African American. 

Signs of the results of that pressure show up in the latest results 

from the Monitoring the Future study, conducted at the University 

of Michigan Institute for Social Research. The most recent study showed 

that drug use among American adolescents held steady in 1999. “We 

are down some from the recent peak levels in overall illicit drug use by 

American teen-agers, which were reached in 1996 and 1997,” said 

Lloyd D. Johnston, one of the study’s researchers. “I am hopeful that 

this is just a pause in a longer-term decline. In fact, we saw such a 

pause in the ’80s, in the middle of what turned out to be a continuing 

decline in drug use.” The one exception to the illegal drug standstill is 

ecstasy; use of that by teens increased in 1999. 

Girl Power! Campaign 

In 1998, HHS Secretary Donna Shalala launched Girl Power!, a 

national public education campaign to help encourage and empower 

9 to 14-year-old girls to make the most of their lives. “Too many girls 

are taking dangerous chances with the only lives they will ever have,” 

Shalala said during the program’s kickoff. “We hope to reach girls at 

this key transitional age when they are forming their values and attitudes. Our job as caring adults is to help girls build confidence and 

pursue opportunity.” 

Phase one of the project focused on preventing alcohol, tobacco 

and illicit drug use among girls. Subsequent phases have addressed 

premature sexual activity, physical activity, nutrition and mental health. 

Three aspects of this public education campaign set it apart from 

other government efforts: 

 It recognizes that while some health messages work equally well 

for boys and girls, girls require health messages targeted to their 

unique needs, interests and challenges. 

 It takes a comprehensive approach, addressing not only a range 

of health issues but also the erosion of self confidence, 

motivation and opportunity that is all too typical for 

continued>>>> 

Office of Minority Health Resource Center	 1 U.S. Department of Health and Human Services 
What You Need to Know About Today’s Teenage Girls 

By Kendra Lee


Closing the Gap, Adolescence • November/December 2000


many girls during the transitional period of 9-14 years of age. the aura of independence they project so well, adolescent girls look to 

 It is based on research indicating that girls at the age of 8 or 9 their parents and other adults for everyday love, attention, involvetypically have very strong attitudes about their health. The Part- ment and discipline.” 

nership for a Drug-Free America’s 1995 Partnership Attitude The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services 

Tracking Study found the majority of girls and boys in grades 4– Administration’s Center for Substance Abuse Prevention developed 

6 believe that “using drugs is dangerous.” The Girl Power! Community Education Kit designed to help coaches, 

teachers, business leaders and others help girls make the most of their 

Girl Power! also enlists the aid of parents schools, communities, lives. 

religious organizations, health providers and others to give girls the The kit can be previewed and downloaded from the Girl Power! Web 

support and encouragement they need. “We are challenging caring site at http://www.health.org/gpower.The kit can also be ordered by calladults to reach out to young girls in their lives,” Shalala said. “Despite ing SAMHSA’s National Clearinghouse for Alcohol and Drug Information (NCADI) at (800) 729-6686.

Teen Pregnancy Rates 

Despite a decline in teen pregnancy and 

abortion rates during the 1990s, unwanted 

pregnancy and abortion still pose a major 

problem for adolescent females, according 

to CDC’s National Center for Health Statistics, 1999. 

• More than 800,000 teens become pregnant each year. 

• Four in 10 young women become pregnant at least once before age 20. 

• From 1995 to 1997, among females aged 

15--19 years, the national pregnancy rate 

declined by 7.8 percent. 

• The largest decline in teen births since 

1991 has been in black teens age 15– 

19. The rate dropped 38 percent. 

• From 1994–1998, Hispanic teen birth 

rates fell 13 percent, but this group still 

has the highest teen birth rates. 

• Adolescent pregnancy rates were higher 

for blacks than for whites in every state 

except one. 

• An estimated 65–86 percent of teen pregnancies are unintended and nearly twothirds of children born to teenage girls 

are fathered by men at least four years 

older than their teen mothers. 

• 70 percent of African-American teenagers reported that lack of communication 

between a girl and her parents is often a 

reason teenage girls have babies. 

• From 1995 to 1997, the abortion rate 

for adolescents aged 15 to 19 fell by 7.5 

percent nationally. 

• Still, the U.S. has the highest 

teen pregnancy rate among developed countries. 

Teen Sexuality 

According to CDC’s 1998 Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance System Summary: 

• In 1995, of girls age 15–19, 53 percent 

of Hispanic girls, 49 percent of non-Hispanic white girls, and 67 percent of African American girls had sexual intercourse. 

• Most sexually experienced teens are also 

sexually active, having had sex in the last 

12 months. The majority of sexually experienced teens have had one or two partners, but many have had three or more. 

•The primary reason teenage girls who have 

never had intercourse give for abstaining 

from sex is that having sex would be 

against their religious or moral values. 

• Three of four girls report that girls who 

have sex do so because their boyfriends 

want them to. 

• At age 16, 22 percent of girls from intact 

families and 44 percent of other girls have 

had sex at least once. 

• One of every 3 girls has had sex by age 

16, 2 out of 3 by age 18. 

• More than six percent (6.5 percent) of 

ninth-grade girls first had sexual intercourse before age 13. 

Sexuality Transmitted Diseases 

Although STDs affect people of all ages, 

the epidemic disproportionately impacts 

young people: 

• Roughly four million teens get an STD 

every year. 

• Experts estimate that as many as one in 

three sexually-experienced young people 

will have an STD by age 24. 

• American teens 15-17 underestimate the 

incidence of non-HIV STDs in the U.S. 

AIDS tops the list when teens are asked 

to name sexually transmitted diseases. 

Even the more commonplace non-HIV 

STDs, like gonorrhea and herpes, trail 

behind AIDS in mentions. 

• A quarter of new STD cases in the U.S. 

occur among 15-19 year olds. 

• Few 15 to 17 year olds say they worry 

about getting an STD. 

• Many teens assume because they have no 

symptoms or that their health care provider has never mentioned a problem or 

that they do not know about any of their 

partners having been infected they do 

not need to be concerned. 

• Teens underestimate the national incidence of STDs, and many are misinformed or uninformed about treatment 

options and health consequences. 

• Most teens know STDs can be spread 

despite the absence of symptoms and that 

some STDs may be symptom-free for an 

extended period. Many, however, are unaware about other transmission facts and 

most know little about the prognosis of 

specific non-HIV STDs. 

• Teenage girls are more likely than teenage 

boys to have been tested for both HIV 

and other STDs. 

• Many teens think only of AIDS when 

they talk about STDs.

—Kendra Lee 

Office of Minority Health Resource Center	 2 U.S. Department of Health and Human Services